Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
(c) 1976 by Billy Joel
Off the album "Turnstiles"
Transcribed by Neil Fein
This is how I play this on guitar. If anyone has a better way to
play this, please let me know! NeilFein@aol.com , because this one's a
pain to play. (Sounds nice when you do it right, though...)
Intro (also the fadeout)
Let bass notes ring. The first note's a harmonic because you'll
have to slide up a bit. Practice it slow; this has to be perfect
to sound good. To perform it I have to rehearse it for several days
before the gig or I get rusty.
I use a clean sound with a touch of chorus, just a hint.
Legal, this is what I, Neil Fein, heard on the record.
----------10-14-15-14-------17- ----12---12-10---12-
-------10-------------15------- --------------------
--[12]-------------------14---- --9----9-------9----
------------------------------- -10-----------------
------------------------------- --------------------
------------------------------- --------------------
----12-------12-------12- -12-------12-------12----
-------15-------15------- ----15-------15-------15-
----------12-------12---- -------12-------12-------
------------------------- -------------------------
-14---------------------- -13----------------------
------------------------- -------------------------
This part is more or less the same, but an octave down:
-------2-3-2-----5- ---0-----0-----0-
-----3-------3----- -----3-----3-----
---2-----------2--- -------0-----0---
-0----------------- -----------------
------------------- -3---------------
------------------- -----------------
-----0-----0----- -0---------------
-3-----3-----3--- ---3-1-0---------
---0-----0-----0- ---------2-0-----
----------------- -------------4-2-
-2--------------- -1---------------
----------------- -----------------
D G/D D G/D D A/C#
Seen the lights go out on Broadway
Bm G A Asus A G
I saw the Empire State laid low
D/F# G Gsus G
And life went on beyond the Palisades
A Asus A
They all bought Cadillacs
G A
And left there long ago
D G/D D G/D D A/C#
They held a concert out in Brooklyn
Bm G A Asus A G
To watch the island bridges blow
D/F# G
They turned our power down
D/A G/B
And drove us underground
A/C# G/B
But we went right on with the show
A/D D G/D D A/D D A D/A A
(Repeat with same chords)
I seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the ruins at my feet
You know we almost didn^Òt notice it
We seen it all the time
On Forty-Second street
They burned the churches up in Harlem
Like in that Spanish civil war
The flames were everywhere
But no one really cared
It always burned up there before
I seen the lights go out on Broadway
I watched the mighty skyline fall
The boats were waiting at the battery
The union went on strike
They never sailed at all
They sent a carrier out from Norfolk
And picked the Yankees up for free
They said that Queens could stay
They blew the Bronx away
And sank Manhattan out at sea
You know those lights were bright on Broadway
That was so many years ago
Before we all lived here in Florida
Before the Mafia
Took over Mexico
There are not many who remember
They say a handful still survive
To tell the world about
The way the lights went out
And keep the memory alive
("alive" is on a G/D chord, I play it X55433)
(End with same as intro fingerstyle)
-----------------------------------------
COMMENTS:

Also, that intro is just dancing around an inverted D chord (D/A) in the right hand while walking down D - C - B - Bb in the bass...that is, if you're playing it on the piano, I can't help guitar players...